It was a year in which one political candidate threatened to punch out a member of the news media, another resigned from office because of “tickling” sessions with male staff members and a third coined the political rallying cry of the year: “The rent is too damn high.”

It was a year in which Gwyneth Paltrow went on “Glee” and all but erased the memories of the smug, unbearable scold she had evolved into in recent years, while Taylor Swift put Kanye West in his place, broke the heart of poor Taylor Lautner and, with her new romance with Jake Gyllenhaal, proved she was no kid anymore.